Attack of the OVA #3 – Fifty Shades of “Gray”

The OVA for “The Fruit of Grisaia” (or “The Gray-Colored Fruit”) is designed to keep you interested in the show, as a movie (in theory) comes out in April and a new series follows shortly thereafter, but they come off as more unrestricted ecchi. All of the ladies seem to want to do the Wild Thing with Yūji Kazami, but it is done more for our benefit as the viewer than for anything that Yuri might want, or that the ladies are seeking.

I do not need to see a woman, dressed as a Playboy Bunny, riding a giant carrot like Slim Pickens did with that nuke in “Dr. Strangelove” or some girl who gives Yuri a real scrub down in the bath, washing everything including his shower nozzle. No, that’s not a euphemism; she really washes down the shower nozzle. Look, it just might be better for you to watch the shows (they run about six or so minutes each) to understand why they do what they do, as it does not make a lick of real sense, either as an OVA or in the general run of the show. And to make matters worse, it comes off as a painful obligation to do these histrionics, rather than a blossoming girl, experiencing the pangs of first love and true romance and….oh, just take off your clothes. Or, as seen above, a tantalizing glimpse of panties.

It’s just that it honestly seems out of character for all of them. I just never felt that any of them had real motivation to justify their odd actions; more that we, the heavy breathers in the audience, imagined that these girls are all like that, filled with all kinds of unresolved and unattended wants and needs. It could even be a caliber of fantasy, so it has no tethering to reality, just flying off into space and time and parts unknown. Well, you live in a dorm set-up with five ladies of perplexing personalities and ultimate goals and you see what happens. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork 9 (A full court press for this one) Plot 4 (Technically………..) Pacing 5 (Seems strained) Effectiveness 5 (The characters seem off)Conclusion 2 (A bridge series for the next offerings)Fan Service 6 (A similar show would be “Mahoromatic”)

Overall 5 (It’s lacking something critical)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. I’ll wash your back.